Hollywood Bowl's summer season offers music from Sibelius to 'Sound of Music' sing-along

This summer's Hollywood Bowl schedule can make you feel like Sybil. Suddenly, there are a lot of personalities bubbling up inside of you.

You start out as a cool-jazz aficionado grooving to the vocal stylings of a sultry diva, but you find yourself soon getting funky to the beats of a neo-soul iconoclast. The changes don't stop there, however. Next thing you know, you're doing some serious head-banging to classic rock.

And that's just for Saturday's annual opening night Hall of Fame concert at the Bowl.

This year, vocalist Patti Austin, R&;B artist John Legend and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry will be the Hall of Fame inductees and performers. The event also serves as a benefit for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and its education programs.

The legendary Stevie Wonder will be there to introduce Legend, but at press time there was no word who might sing the praises of the "Toxic Twins," a nickname given Tyler and Perry during the raucous early part of their career. But after more than 40 years together, the duo is showing signs of respectability, having been honored earlier this year by the songwriters association ASCAP and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

The Bowl is undoubtedly the most iconic outdoor venue in the nation, and there are many ways to have a lovely evening there, no matter what the budget. If you spring for the expensive patio seats down front, you can sometimes mingle with stars, drink a nice chardonnay and munch on marinated chicken from the in-house eatery Patina. Or sit up in the cheaper seats (less than $20) nearer the real stars with a gorgeous view. Here you can open a nice chardonnay you bought at a local market and munch on chicken you marinated yourself.

In both cases -- and everywhere in between -- there is a dazzling palette of musical talent to choose from throughout the summer, and as for your own palate, that's limited only by what you can carry in a picnic basket.

The Bowl's opening night is followed Sunday with one of its coolest shows of the season when "New Girl" Zooey Deschanel and singer-songwriter M. Ward -- known as She & Him -- show off their eclectic musical sensibilities. The duo just released a third album, not counting a Christmas CD they did. With them on the bill are alt-country veterans Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell. Harris, a 12-time Grammy winner, has a voice that is simply a national treasure, and Crowell, besides being a recording artist in his own right, has been a well-known composer for the likes of Johnny Cash and Norah Jones. The two recently collaborated on the album "Old Yellow Moon," released earlier this year.

The rest of the summer is a potpourri of entertainment. Classical music nights begin July 9, with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas leading the Phil in a night of Mahler. Later in the week, he turns his baton to Rimsky-Korsakov, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky. Soloists like violinist Itzhak Perlman and pianist Helene Grimaud will have nights to show off their virtuosity, too. And, of course, the Phil's conductor and music director Gustavo Dudamel will be there. For three nights in August he will conduct works of Verdi: "Requiem" and the opera "Aida."

There also will be the usual Bowl staples, like a fully staged musical. This year it's "Chicago," with Brooke Shields serving as the director. Reggae night returns as does the ABBA fest, and the "Grease" and "The Sound of Music" sing-alongs.

Meanwhile, the Bowl has continued making improvements to the facility. Last year, it included an upgrade on the restrooms. This year the four large screens along the sides of the venue have been replaced with new LED ones that allow for a high-definition image. A new, improved sound system also has been installed, and there are new tables and chairs in the 15 picnic areas.

Oh, yeah, how could we forget? There will be nights of fireworks, and no place does it better than the Bowl, especially when the Los Angeles Philharmonic is performing its annual Tchaikovsky Spectacular.